Preface to Volume I
I am Cathak Meleris, and these journals contain the true stories of my adventures. At the time of this volume, I was Talonlord of House Cathak's Jade Phoenix Talon. The fact that you are reading this means that I am either a hundred years dead, or that you have stolen my property, but either way, I implore you to read them with an open mind. If you are familiar with the official versions of my exploits, you will note many, many discrepancies. I have no doubt that you would note such discrepancies if you had access to the original personal journals of any soldier of the Realm, should you compare them to official reports of the battles they fought. In any event, I ask your understanding, because my companions and I made many, many errors which, if they have not already, may cost us our reputations and lives.
-Cathak Meleris
Prelude:
After being recalled to the Blessed Isle from where my Talon was drilling in the Scavenger Lands, I met with my cousin at his estate. There I was informed that House Cathak required me to take my troops East. Communications from a locale around halfway between the Sea and the Wyld had been cut off, and rumors placed an anathema at the root of the problem. Our task was to go to the area in question and restore order, destroying the anathema should he exist, and, if at all possible, recover a certain item for another House. It was also at this briefing that I met Nellens Vullcore, a then-shiftless layabout addicted to certain substances. It was explained that he would be accompanying my talon, together with an Immaculate monk and two others, who were already across the Sea. Passage had been arranged for us, and we were to leave immediately.
Thus began the campaign I have come to call, in my more whimsical moments, "The Destruction of the Golden Idol."
24 Resplendent Wood, RY 769
We left my cousin's estate en route to the port our ship was moored at. Vullcore, the Immaculate, and myself rode in a supply wagon, my soldiers having been marched ahead already. The silence was gratifying after I had been forced to endure the lout's prattle during our briefing.
Upon our arrival at the docks, I oversaw our loading into the merchant vessel chartered to take us East. The captain informed me that, while he was not happy with having to play troop transport, he would, so long as I maintained discipline among my troops, allow us to exercise on deck during the voyage. We would be aboard ship for a week's time.
This evening, finally adjusting once again to the sensations of being aboard a moving ship, I read, as always, from the Thousand Correct Actions, and noted especially the wisdom of the Shogun pertaining to naval tactics and survival. The East held no particular danger in the form of piracy, but it is better to prepare for any possible terrain than to be caught unawares.
27 Resplendent Wood, RY 769
I observed the ships' captain and his crew in their morning exercises. The captain appears to have trained his crew in a shipboard martial art, and they appear to have learned the style as well as any mortal could. None of us could help but observe the Immaculate's morning training as well, on the ship's aftercastle. By the Dragons, that sight made me wish for a moment that I had followed Lord Cainan's educational path and entered the Cloister of Wisdom instead of the House of Bells. I soon reaffirmed my choices of long ago, and those of my family, but for that one brief moment I wondered how my life choices would have been changed had I taken the path of the Lotus instead of the Daiklave.
Vullcore seems to have spent the day baking pies, though for the life of me I cannot understand why.
3 Descending Wood, RY 769
We landed in the Eastern port mid-morning. By around noon we had offloaded all the men and supplies. It was then that the captain decided to inform me of a new little wrinkle in the plan. The ship had been hired to transport us both ways, but it was only on hire for two months. Should our expedition take longer, our return would be on our own coin. This was a problematic twist, since, according to our map, it was a four month march each way. We needed fast transportation--immediately.
While I went to meet with the members of our expedition already on the scene, Vullcore sought out rumors of anyone who could provide us with magical aid. As it turned out, one of the two had already made his way farther East and would meet us soon after we arrived--we hoped, anyway--but Ragara Narein, a Water-aspected investigator (or so he told us), was waiting at the meeting place specified in the mission briefing.
Upon regrouping, Vullcore reported success in tracking rumors from his contacts (I strongly suspect that he overheard them while purchasing illicit intoxicants, though he has never confirmed or denied this outright.) An hour's march South of town, there was a small forest where a local thaumaturge made her home. She was reputed to have some goodly amount of influence with the local gods, and could, perhaps, find us assistance in traveling further East.
I gave my men the day's leave, so that they might enjoy themselves for one final day before leaving all civilization's recreational enjoyments behind on march while I went to the forest to speak with this crone. Imagine my surprise when one enlisted man--Fanglord Cathak Sara, was his name--voiced his intention to defy my orders to remain behind. Sara's determination was quickly echoed by my men. I was deeply gratified to see such great temperance and willpower in my soldiers, such that Hesiesh himself would have approved. I promptly accepted their decision to accompany me, and rewarded Fanglord Cathak with extra hard labor (shit detail, I believe the common soldiers call it) for his insubordination. Insubordination, even with good intentions, cannot be tolerated by the upright soldier.
We marched to the edge of the forest, where I ordered a temporary camp made and called on my senior fanglord to find me the ten most gifted trackers and woodsmen in my talon. With these ten men, Vullcore, Narein, and myself set off into the forest, intent on finding the woman.
tbc.
---
So I started playing in an Exalted game in late October of last year. Now, five months later, I have decided to chronicle the whole thing, because I think (and everyone involved agrees with me) that it needs to be done. I'm going to write this in chronological order, and I'll try my hardest to get up to current events as quickly as possible, but it's something of a slog. We're already up to the second story arc, though we're stuck way out on a tangent of it. As an example of how screwed up this game's gotten, for anyone who knows the setting, we're accidentally indirectly responsible for the destruction of Whitewall by the Fair Folk and the undead.
Now, a couple notes for people who don't know the setting:
A Talon of a Dragon Blooded Legion is made up of (roughly) 125 men, or 5 Scales of 5 Fangs of 5 soldiers. Talonlord is the High Realm term for Captain, Scalelord would be Lieutenant, and Fanglord is Sergeant.
The year in Creation is divided into five seasons of three months of twenty-eight days each , with an additional five days at the end of the year called Calibration. Each season is named for one of the five elements (Air, Earth, Fire, Water, Wood). <a href='http://wiki.white-wolf.com/exalted/index.php?title=Calendar' target='_blank' rel='nofollow'>A calendar can be found here, if you're interested.</a> The season of Wood (the three months of a season are Ascending, Resplendent, and Descending [Element]) is Spring to very early Summer. I've placed this particular story arc in mid-late spring since, while my storyteller never gave us any dates (ever, and that's rather important in the current part of the arc we're playing now) as we went East (which is the direction of Wood (all five directions in Creation have an elemental alignment (the fifth direction is "center")) it always seemed to be lush and green, and we were in the deciduous zone. Thus, late spring.
I am Cathak Meleris, and these journals contain the true stories of my adventures. At the time of this volume, I was Talonlord of House Cathak's Jade Phoenix Talon. The fact that you are reading this means that I am either a hundred years dead, or that you have stolen my property, but either way, I implore you to read them with an open mind. If you are familiar with the official versions of my exploits, you will note many, many discrepancies. I have no doubt that you would note such discrepancies if you had access to the original personal journals of any soldier of the Realm, should you compare them to official reports of the battles they fought. In any event, I ask your understanding, because my companions and I made many, many errors which, if they have not already, may cost us our reputations and lives.
-Cathak Meleris
Prelude:
After being recalled to the Blessed Isle from where my Talon was drilling in the Scavenger Lands, I met with my cousin at his estate. There I was informed that House Cathak required me to take my troops East. Communications from a locale around halfway between the Sea and the Wyld had been cut off, and rumors placed an anathema at the root of the problem. Our task was to go to the area in question and restore order, destroying the anathema should he exist, and, if at all possible, recover a certain item for another House. It was also at this briefing that I met Nellens Vullcore, a then-shiftless layabout addicted to certain substances. It was explained that he would be accompanying my talon, together with an Immaculate monk and two others, who were already across the Sea. Passage had been arranged for us, and we were to leave immediately.
Thus began the campaign I have come to call, in my more whimsical moments, "The Destruction of the Golden Idol."
24 Resplendent Wood, RY 769
We left my cousin's estate en route to the port our ship was moored at. Vullcore, the Immaculate, and myself rode in a supply wagon, my soldiers having been marched ahead already. The silence was gratifying after I had been forced to endure the lout's prattle during our briefing.
Upon our arrival at the docks, I oversaw our loading into the merchant vessel chartered to take us East. The captain informed me that, while he was not happy with having to play troop transport, he would, so long as I maintained discipline among my troops, allow us to exercise on deck during the voyage. We would be aboard ship for a week's time.
This evening, finally adjusting once again to the sensations of being aboard a moving ship, I read, as always, from the Thousand Correct Actions, and noted especially the wisdom of the Shogun pertaining to naval tactics and survival. The East held no particular danger in the form of piracy, but it is better to prepare for any possible terrain than to be caught unawares.
27 Resplendent Wood, RY 769
I observed the ships' captain and his crew in their morning exercises. The captain appears to have trained his crew in a shipboard martial art, and they appear to have learned the style as well as any mortal could. None of us could help but observe the Immaculate's morning training as well, on the ship's aftercastle. By the Dragons, that sight made me wish for a moment that I had followed Lord Cainan's educational path and entered the Cloister of Wisdom instead of the House of Bells. I soon reaffirmed my choices of long ago, and those of my family, but for that one brief moment I wondered how my life choices would have been changed had I taken the path of the Lotus instead of the Daiklave.
Vullcore seems to have spent the day baking pies, though for the life of me I cannot understand why.
3 Descending Wood, RY 769
We landed in the Eastern port mid-morning. By around noon we had offloaded all the men and supplies. It was then that the captain decided to inform me of a new little wrinkle in the plan. The ship had been hired to transport us both ways, but it was only on hire for two months. Should our expedition take longer, our return would be on our own coin. This was a problematic twist, since, according to our map, it was a four month march each way. We needed fast transportation--immediately.
While I went to meet with the members of our expedition already on the scene, Vullcore sought out rumors of anyone who could provide us with magical aid. As it turned out, one of the two had already made his way farther East and would meet us soon after we arrived--we hoped, anyway--but Ragara Narein, a Water-aspected investigator (or so he told us), was waiting at the meeting place specified in the mission briefing.
Upon regrouping, Vullcore reported success in tracking rumors from his contacts (I strongly suspect that he overheard them while purchasing illicit intoxicants, though he has never confirmed or denied this outright.) An hour's march South of town, there was a small forest where a local thaumaturge made her home. She was reputed to have some goodly amount of influence with the local gods, and could, perhaps, find us assistance in traveling further East.
I gave my men the day's leave, so that they might enjoy themselves for one final day before leaving all civilization's recreational enjoyments behind on march while I went to the forest to speak with this crone. Imagine my surprise when one enlisted man--Fanglord Cathak Sara, was his name--voiced his intention to defy my orders to remain behind. Sara's determination was quickly echoed by my men. I was deeply gratified to see such great temperance and willpower in my soldiers, such that Hesiesh himself would have approved. I promptly accepted their decision to accompany me, and rewarded Fanglord Cathak with extra hard labor (shit detail, I believe the common soldiers call it) for his insubordination. Insubordination, even with good intentions, cannot be tolerated by the upright soldier.
We marched to the edge of the forest, where I ordered a temporary camp made and called on my senior fanglord to find me the ten most gifted trackers and woodsmen in my talon. With these ten men, Vullcore, Narein, and myself set off into the forest, intent on finding the woman.
tbc.
---
So I started playing in an Exalted game in late October of last year. Now, five months later, I have decided to chronicle the whole thing, because I think (and everyone involved agrees with me) that it needs to be done. I'm going to write this in chronological order, and I'll try my hardest to get up to current events as quickly as possible, but it's something of a slog. We're already up to the second story arc, though we're stuck way out on a tangent of it. As an example of how screwed up this game's gotten, for anyone who knows the setting, we're accidentally indirectly responsible for the destruction of Whitewall by the Fair Folk and the undead.
Now, a couple notes for people who don't know the setting:
A Talon of a Dragon Blooded Legion is made up of (roughly) 125 men, or 5 Scales of 5 Fangs of 5 soldiers. Talonlord is the High Realm term for Captain, Scalelord would be Lieutenant, and Fanglord is Sergeant.
The year in Creation is divided into five seasons of three months of twenty-eight days each , with an additional five days at the end of the year called Calibration. Each season is named for one of the five elements (Air, Earth, Fire, Water, Wood). <a href='http://wiki.white-wolf.com/exalted/index.php?title=Calendar' target='_blank' rel='nofollow'>A calendar can be found here, if you're interested.</a> The season of Wood (the three months of a season are Ascending, Resplendent, and Descending [Element]) is Spring to very early Summer. I've placed this particular story arc in mid-late spring since, while my storyteller never gave us any dates (ever, and that's rather important in the current part of the arc we're playing now) as we went East (which is the direction of Wood (all five directions in Creation have an elemental alignment (the fifth direction is "center")) it always seemed to be lush and green, and we were in the deciduous zone. Thus, late spring.